Rare World War I Propaganda Shows the Biomech Soldier of 100 Years AgoOne hundred years ago, at the ...

1. Rare World War I Propaganda Shows the Biomech Soldier of
100 Years Ago
Rare World War I Propaganda Shows the Biomech Soldier of 100 Years Ago
One hundred years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century, the first golden age of advertising met
humanity's deadliest conflict: the First World War. The emerging art of graphic design, aided by the
invention of lithography and later chromolithography, was suddenly used for propaganda--and the
results were terrific: a bold, optimistic, merry and extremely fictive vision of a gory war that killed
millions.
The National Sz?ch?nyi Library (OSZK) in Budapest, Hungary, has a huge and wonderfully rich
international collection of paper ephemera from these bloodstained years. These propaganda
posters, postcards, photographs were unseen since the end of the war, until now: A small part of
OSZK's collection was published recently in a book titled Picture the Great War, curated, written,
and edited by the researchers of the OSZK: Anik? Katona and Anita Szarka.
What we see in these colorful images is the beautiful beginning of a new age of technology: machine
guns, tanks, airplanes, poisonous gases, and a multitude of tools developed to kill. As the book says:
The new war situation brought posters to the limelight. This genre, after all, counted as the most
modern and effective means of mass communication at the time, only later conceding that position
to the radio, and then to television and the internet. Poster propaganda was born in the West Europe
of the 1870s. It first flourished during the Art Nouveau period, at the turn of the last century. By the
1910s, it had also gained ground in Hungary as well as practically all other parts of the world. From
the outset, posters were designed by creative artists, who saw the excellent opportunity it offered
for publicity and earnings. The graphic artists working in the genre increasingly specialized;
courses, societies, and periodicals were launched, many poster exhibitions took place. The posters
newly appearing in the streets kept the public busy. By the early 1910s, politics had recognized the
potential of the medium, which had formerly been a commercial tool in the first place. Left-wing
groups would turn to posters from the beginning of the 20th century in order to gain publicity for
their struggle for workers' rights, inviting people to mass assemblies and demonstrations.

2. The poster art of World War I gave rise to radically new types within the genre. New themes were
advertised: recruitment (in countries with voluntary military service), fund-raising in the form of war
loans, standards concerning the way people lived (e.g. savings), or social solidarity in the form of
various charity events. The manifold tasks all pointed to one ultimate aim: to sustain society's
support for the war. With the hostilities dragging on, this proved an ever greater challenge in all
participant countries.
[...] They also represented phenomena concomitant with the war: everyday life on the front and in
the hinterland - mostly in idyllic settings. Life on the battlefield was presented as an exciting,
masculine adventure. Soldiers were depicted during pleasant and calm activities such as cooking,
eating and drinking, coffee-time, reading, or social games. The depiction of armed clashes was much
less usual.
As time was passing, the severe social problems caused by the war came more and more to the
foreground. A greater number of posters advertised charity events and fund-raising for the benefit of
widowed, orphaned, or disabled people, often depicting those suffering such afflictions. In the final
years of the war, reflecting the common sentiment, a desire for peace would dominate the posters in
all parts of the world. Doves, women waiting for their husbands to come home, and images of
restarting work and development were among the advertisements that attempted to raise one last
wave of enthusiasm.
The following set of images from the vaults of OSZK, republished here with permission, show a
series of impressive artworks from the ruined streets of Europe--plus a few rare pieces from the
United States as well.

3. Great Britain as a knight in shiny armor

5. The famous 'Take Up the Sword of Justice' poster from the United States. Created bySir Bernard
Partridge shortly after the sinking of the Lusitania.

7. Through Darkness to Light. Through Fighting to Triumph.

9. Peaceful French soldiers
Recruiting poster from England.

10. Eat less.

11. Enlist today if you don't want to share the fate of Belgium

12. Save food for your fighting soldiers

13. The trench is such a peaceful place: resting Hungarian soldiers reading the newspaper, called 'The
Evening'

14. Meet the Hungarian biomechanical hussar. This is one of the most powerful propaganda posters
ever: with prosthetic arm our disabled soldier can live a full life again

15. Exhibition of war photography

17. Exhibition of war planes at Budapest, Hungary

19. Half man, half robot

20. Captured British tank on exhibition

22. Propaganda poster by the United War Work Campaign

23. Weapons for Liberty, poster for the third liberty loan campaign by the boy scouts of America

24. The ships are coming - propaganda poster from the United States

25. Buy Bonds!
Cinematic scene from the war industry